Update: 25 Freelance Outlets Are Coming to Client Connections 2025
Client Connections is always one of the best, and most anticipated, features of the ASJA in-person conference and the upcoming conference, ASJA: Always in Fashion, NYC2025 Feb. 24-26 at the Fashion Institute of Technology, is shaping up to be a standout.
As of Jan. 8, 25 top-tier clients have signed up to meet one on one with ASJA professional members at Client Connections 2025, which takes place on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 1 to 4 p.m. Eastern time.
The Client Connections committee will continue to invite potential clients as long as possible. The list of attending clients is updated regularly – check the Client Connections 2025 page of the ASJA site for a complete list of who’s coming.
To participate in Client Connections 2025, ASJA professional members must register by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, Jan. 22. Only ASJA members attending the conference can participate in Client Connections 2025. Registration for attending the conference and Client Connections 2025 is $708. Sign up here.
ASJA members can continue to register for the conference alone for $559 through 11:59 p.m. ET on Feb. 14, and for $659 from Feb. 15 until the event begins on Feb. 24.
How Client Connections 2025 Works
The three Client Connections co-chairs, Cari Shane, Ka Bannan, and I, aided by our fantastic team of ASJA member volunteers, have worked for months to lasso the nation’s top editors, agents, and publishers for the event that’s sometimes called “speed dating for freelancers.”
At Client Connections, ASJA professional members meet one-on-one with these pros. Each of these sessions is nine minutes, long enough to introduce yourself, pitch ideas and hear what the clients need.
We began rounding up clients last fall, emailing top prospects from our massive database. When we don’t hear back, we email them again. Sometimes — since some professionals don’t read their emails — we message them via LinkedIn.
In early January, our team of volunteers sent out a new flurry of emails to other potential Client Connections guests.
In short, we’ve been doing whatever it takes to politely wheedle and cajole the types of clients we know ASJA members would like to meet.
Who’s Coming to Client Connections 2025
It’s working. The Client Connections 2025 registrations are pouring in.
Among the 25 luminaries who’ve signed up to attend are editors from AARP, Smithsonian, Global Finance, Scientific American Custom Media, Fortune Brand Studio, Weill Cornell Medical Center, John Hopkins Magazine, Gotham Ghostwriters, Vassar Quarterly, Good RX, and CQ Researcher.
Two editors at Barnard College are coming, too.
A top editor from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune is flying from Minnesota to meet ASJA members who’d like to write for the newspaper.
Most of the registered clients have told us they’ll gladly stay for all three hours. A few will join us for one or two.
All the clients who are attending are invited to join us before Client Connections for lunch and afterward for a late-day reception. We’re hoping both opportunities give members and clients more chances to chat.
How to Prepare for Client Connections 2025
ASJA will send all professional members who register for Client Connections 2025 by 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Jan. 22, instructions for the CC lottery, where members are paired with clients they’ve identified as outlets with which they’d like to meet. After the lottery closes, attendees will receive information on the client meetings they’ve received.
The Client Connections committee will host a Zoom meeting on Thursday, Feb. 20, at 4 p.m. ET to help attendees prepare for client meetings. Stay tuned for additional details.
Find the full ASJA 2025 conference schedule and register here.
To stay up to speed with news about the 2025 in-person conference and other ASJA events, subscribe to the ASJA Weekly newsletter, read ASJA Confidential blog or follow ASJA on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok.
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Richard Eisenberg is a freelance writer and editor and co-host of the Friends Talk Money podcast. He was formerly Managing Editor of Next Avenue and editor of the site’s Money & Policy and Work & Purpose channels and a writer there. Eisenberg writes The View From Unretirement column for MarketWatch and also freelances for Next Avenue, Narratively/Healthline, and Shutterstock. He was formerly Executive Editor of Money, Front Page Finance Editor of Yahoo!, and Money Editor/Special Projects Director at Good Housekeeping. He is author of How to Avoid a Midlife Financial Crisis and The Money Book of Personal Finance. He graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and lives in New Jersey.